Russia to send Olympic torch into space

[The Straight Story]

SOCHI, Russia (AP) — The Olympic torch has gone underwater at the Great Barrier Reef, flown on the Concorde and traveled on the back of a camel.

Now Russia is taking the torch to new heights — space.

As part of a four-month torch relay ahead of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, the torch will make its first trip into space using a Soyuz TMA-11M manned spaceship provided by the Russian Federal Space Agency, organizers said Monday.

Russian cosmonauts Sergei Ryazansky and Oleg Kotov will take the Olympic torch on a spacewalk.

"Nobody has done this before," said Dmitry Chernyshenko, head of Sochi's organizing committee. "The spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts with the Sochi 2014 Olympic torch will be an historic moment in the history of the Olympic torch relay."

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/russia-send-olympic-torch-space?utm_campaign=AP_Sports&utm_source=SocialFlow&utm_medium=Twitter

[uppityperson]

1. I should have chosen another thread to read after just reading the DUzies.

biting my tongue, or my fingers, or my finger's tongue. argh

[DreamGypsy]

2. Darn.

I was hoping to see pictures of Comrade Olympic Torch in his own little space suit during the spacewalk.

From the article:

The torch will be unlit for safety reasons during its visit to space in November.

Hey, Sergei! The damned thing keeps going out when I open the airlock.

Well, Oleg. Here's a cylinder of LOX and a lighter. See if they help.